Student Case Competition

The Student Case Competition (SCC) is held annually at OABP’s Fall Continuing Education Meeting. The contest, open to third year veterinary students, includes entering a written case report to a panel of judges who then choose three “finalists” to make a 10-minute presentation about the case in front of their peers at the OABP meeting. These presentations are ranked by the audience, with monetary prizes being given in order of first, second, and third. Below are some examples of past written submissions:

OABP Student Award 2017

The OABP Student Award is presented annually to a student in the graduating class of the Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, who has demonstrated proficiency in the area of bovine herd health management and an interest in bovine practice. This year’s recipient, Dr. Ben Potvin, is receiving the award from Dr. Dan Shock, OABP Treasurer.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Dr. Neil Anderson who was presented with the OVC Distinguished Alumnus Award at this year’s OVC Alumni Association Annual meeting on June 10, 2017. The award recognizes OVC graduates who have brought honour to their Alma matter and fellow alumni through their contributions to alumni affairs, education, community, their profession, country and the sciences. Dr. Anderson has served the veterinary community in many ways, both as a practicing veterinarian at Cheltenham Veterinary Services (1972-1983) and as the Lead Veterinarian, Disease Prevention (Ruminant) with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (1983 – 2014). Neil served as President of the OABP in 1987 and was the first recipient of the OABP Award of Excellence in 2002. Although Neil’s contributions to the Ontario dairy and beef industry are immeasurable, one area of passion for Neil has been his commitment to improving calf health and welfare. The dairy industry has been forever changed by his influence to improve the nutrition of growing calves. Congratulations Neil on this well-deserved honour!

Ontario Veterinary Update Meetings 2016

The following links provide handouts from presentations at the “Veterinary Update Meetings” held in December 2016:

Veterinarian Makes “Top 40” List!

September 2014 – Dr. Kelly Barratt, OABP President, has been named to the ‘Top 40 Under 40’ contributors to animal agriculture by Vance Publishing, one of only two Canadians on the list. Click here for more details and the list of honorees.

OABP Contributes 10K to DFO/U of G Dairy Barn

February 2014 – A small group of the OABP Executive met with Wes Lane, a retired DFO representative and Special Advisor to a new research and education centre being built outside of Elora. The Dairy Research and Innovation Centre will be built at the current site of the Elora Research Station, one of the Agricultural Research Institute of Ontario (ARIO) facilities operated by University of Guelph in partnership agreement with OMAF. Wes is tasked with finding potential industry partners (DFO is the leading partner) to donate towards construction of the new facility. Wes presented the goals of the new facility which include a desire to modernize the facility from the one currently being used and enable it to be a site where applied research can be conducted. Considerable thought has been put into the design of the facility as to make it flexible so that dairy research including health, reproduction, nutrition, life cycle, emissions, animal well-being, and value added milk components can be conducted. It is also designed to be easily altered to suit the needs of future research opportunities. The two current dairy research facilities will be merged into this new and improved centre.

As the leading partner, DFO has committed $1,000,000 towards the construction cost of this facility. Another $4,000,000 will be required to meet the $25,000,000 budget, with $20,000,000 coming from the province. With DFO being a producer funded organization, in effect, dairy farmers are true partners in this project.

The OABP Executive made a motion for OABP to make a $10,000 donation towards the development of this facility. The Executive feels this is a one-time opportunity for Ontario bovine veterinarians to donate towards a facility that will primarily benefit the Ontario dairy industry. Making this donation demonstrates our support and allows us to give back to an industry that all OABP members have benefited from.

Health Standards for 4-H Shows

July 2011 – It is with great pleasure that the OABP announces that we now have available an excellent PowerPoint presentation (see links below) outlining the “Health Standards for 4-H Shows”. It is consistent with the OABP articles on this topic in the June 2011 OABP Newsletter, on the OABP website, and in the April-May issues of Ontario Dairy Farmer and Ontario Beef Farmer.

The presentation was prepared by Kristin Ferguson, Dr. Ann Godkin’s OMAFRA summer student. This presentation is intended to serve several purposes: to familiarize bovine veterinarians with the health standards developed in consultation with 4-H Ontario and OMAFRA; and, to be used in presentations by bovine veterinarians or 4-H Ontario personnel to 4-H Calf Clubs or Cattle Show Committees to educate the cattle exhibitors on these standards.

We encourage all bovine veterinarians to contact local 4-H Calf Clubs for an invitation to discuss the issue of show cattle health standards. The ultimate goal is to standardize health standards and to have them enforced consistently for all cattle showsacross Ontario. The OABP would appreciate your participation and cooperation in this endeavour.